Take Control of your Future

Southern New Hampshire University's accounting and finance master's degree online curriculum combines theory with practice in two in-demand fields. By broadening your skill set in areas such as budgetary analysis, cost accounting, and financial management, you can improve your marketability significantly in a number of careers. Because MS in Accounting and Finance courses are offered online, on-location, or a combination of both, you can build a schedule that's convenient for you.

From Business Analyst to CPA

With increased scrutiny on corporations to comply with strict accounting practices and a rising demand for transparency in business practices, there's a growing need for trained professionals to fill roles in corporate finance, banking, investing, government, and a variety of for-profit and nonprofit industries. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, accounting/finance careers are expected to grow upwards of 20 percent by 2018.

MS Accounting-Finance DegreeCourse Requirements

Credits Required: 42 credits minimum

The accounting and finance master's degree online curriculum is a 14-course, 42 credit program offered on campus, online, or both. The following is list of courses you must successfully complete to earn your Master's in Accounting/Finance degree:

Accounting Core Courses

ACC-550: Cost Accounting

This course provides a comprehensive study of the concepts, procedures, and practices of accounting systems that record, classify, and report cost data. These systems are designed to aid in the cost-effective operation of for-profit and non- profit organizations. This course focuses on cost behaviors, alternative cost systems, and accounting tools for planning and control. Additional topics studied would include relevant cost analysis for management decisions, cost/ revenue allocation methods, inventory management, and transfer pricing.

Prerequisites:

MBA-503

ACC-610: Financial Reporting I

This course examines financial accounting theories and practices and emphasizes asset and liability, measurement and reporting.

Prerequisites:

MBA-503

ACC-620: Financial Reporting II

This course is a continuation of ACC 610. Topics include stockholders' equity, income measurement, income taxes, pensions, leases and statements of changes in financial positions.

This course is a study of the concepts and methods of professional auditing.

Prerequisites:

ACC-620

ACC-690: Advanced Topics in Financial Reporting

This course is an examination of advanced topics in accounting, including SEC reporting, corporations in financial difficulty, multinational accounting and additional consolidation reporting issues not covered in Financial Reporting II.

Prerequisites:

ACC-630

MBA-610: Business Law

This course focuses on the theory and application of business regulations and the laws of contracts, agency, property and business organizations. Background preparation: 3 credit hours in business law or the equivalent.

TAX-660: Tax Factors in Business Decisions

This course is an introduction to tax factors that are relevant in business and personal financial planning decisions. This includes regular and S corporations, partnerships, fiduciaries, tax shelters and tax research. This course is open only to non-accounting students. Background preparation: 6 credit hours in accounting or the equivalent.

Prerequisites:

MBA-503 or equivalent

Finance Core Courses

FIN-500: Financial Management

This course is a study of financial decision- making in a firm, including its relationship to financial markets and institutions. Background preparation: 6 credit hours in economics.

Prerequisites:

ACC-500, ACC-510 or ACC-550 and MBA-502

FIN-610: Short-Term Financial Management

The course covers traditional working capital topics, including liquidity analysis and management, inventory, and receivables and payables management. Additional emphasis is given to core cash management, payment systems and banking relationships. Other topics include cash forecasting, short-term borrowing and risk management.

Prerequisites:

FIN-500 or 550 depending on catalog year.

FIN-620: Money and Capital Markets

This course analyzes processes within the U.S. financial system. Students study the nature of its major participants and their objectives and procedures for assessing opportunities and pricing risk. Students also analyze the role of the financial system in the allocation of credit to different sectors, its responsiveness to economic activity and its continuous adaptation to changing needs. Emphasis is placed on the role and functions of the Federal Reserve System.

Prerequisites:

FIN-500 or 550 depending on catalog year.

FIN-630: Capital Budgeting & Financing

This course first addresses advanced topics in capital investment, including determination of cash flows, capital budgeting under risk, replacement decisions, and inflation and capital decisions. The second half of the course focuses on capital financing and structure and includes topics in financial leverage, financing sources, dividend policy, cost of capital and valuation.

Prerequisites:

FIN-500

FIN-640: Investment Analysis & Portfolio Management

Students study the techniques used to assess the value of securities and the methods used in the management of investment portfolios. Stocks and bonds are discussed in terms of valuation, risk- return measurement, diversification and other aspects of portfolio theory.

Prerequisites:

FIN-500 or 550 depending on catalog year.

FIN-660: Creating Value: Merger/Acquisition

This course is a corporate finance elective intended to extend and further develop the long- term investment and financing topics introduced in FIN 500 Financial Management. The course focuses on applied managerial decision-making, and is designed for students seeking a more thorough understanding of the economic analysis of mergers and acquisitions and the effect capital structure decisions have on firm value. Topics addressed include advanced techniques in capital budgeting, firm (division) valuation, capital structure, firm (division) cost of capital, and quantitative risk assessment.

Prerequisites:

FIN-500 and FIN-630

Foundation Courses

For those who do not meet the minimum requirements, the following courses may be required:

MBA-501: Mathematics and Statistics for Business

This is an applied course, which will provide students with the mathematical knowledge and skills that underlie many courses offered in the school of business. Students will learn the fundamental concepts and methods of linear algebra, mathematical functions, differential calculus and statistics and their applications to business. They will also sharpen their quantitative, analytical and problem-solving skills that are so important for success in the world of business today.

MBA-502: Economics for Business

This course is intended to provide the student with a concisely focused yet rigorous introduction to both micro- and macroeconomic theory needed at the foundational level of a graduate degree program. Some of the topics to be addressed include: market behavior; demand theory and related elasticity concepts; production and cost theory; managerial decision-making in perfectly competitive and imperfectly competitive markets; GDP determination; unemployment and inflation; and fiscal and monetary policy.

Prerequisites:

MBA-501

MBA-503: Financial Reporting and Analysis

This course is designed to help future business leaders across all functional areas appreciate and understand the rules and regulations, processes and procedures, and significance of financial accounting statements and reports. It provides a balanced presentation between how statements are prepared and, more importantly, how to analyze these statements and footnotes to assess a company's performance within the industry and management's performance within a particular company. New government regulations have made the integrity and quality of financial accounting information everyone's responsibility. This course will help future business leaders conduct better internal audits, improve forecasts and valuations, and make better management decisions.